Johannes Vermeer Paints Woman with a Pearl Necklace

Over an off-white ground, black underpainting indicates shadows in the woman's back. An ocher layer top of the ground may cover the entire painting. It is not covered by any other paint layers in parts of the figure and in the stained glass window The woman's yellow jacket underpainted with white, followed by lead tin in the light parts and two layers of a black and yellow ocher mixture in the shadows. In the flesh colors are various mixtures of white, ocher, and black, well blended into one another. The pearl necklace was painted wet-in-wet white over a gray/ocher layer.

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